USA > Ohio > Genealogical and family history of eastern Ohio > Part 49
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John Harris had been educated in the schools of his native county. Upon ar- riving in Ohio he soon took up the study of his profession, entering the office of Dr. Benjamin Stanton, and after a course of reading with him repaired to the Cincinnati Medical College, where he prepared himself thoroughly for the practice of his profession. He settled at Salem and until 1855 was en- gaged as a general practitioner, in which year he took up the study of den- tistry, and thereafter to the time of his death was engaged in that profession. Dr. John Harris during his lifetime in Salem was a very prominent figure in the public eye, having served a long period of years as mayor of the town, and being also connected for long years with the educational interests as a member of the board of education. In religious faith he was one of that band of noble Quakers who were active in the establishment of the noted "underground railroad," and of which he was an agent in this part of the country, and aided many a black man on his way to Canada in search of freedom. Dr. Harris married, in Salem, Miss Mary Trescott. This lady was the daughter of Samuel C. Trescott and Sophia Lane, both of the parents having come to Ohio from Caanan, Connecticut, being among the very earliest pioneers of the Western Reserve, which was at that time claimed by the state of Connecticut. They, also, were members of the Quaker faith. The children born to Dr. John Harris were Augustus H., who died in January, 1903 ; the second child was the subject of this sketch.
Mr. C. W. Harris was reared and educated in the village of Salem, surrounded with the Christian influences of a quiet Quaker home, where he was well grounded in the best of moral principles. In early youth he took up the study of civil engineering, and became connected with the Pennsyl- vania Canal, with headquarters at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was en- gaged in work of this nature for a period of ten years. In 1876 he came back to his native village, and purchased, in company with his brother Au- gustus, a label printing business which had been established in 1869. This business had been started in a very primitive style, but had gradually grown to fair proportions at the time that our subject made the purchase. He has since developed it until its business extends largely over the United States and in several foreign countries, his work being mainly among manufacturers and druggists. The business is still growing rapidly and it is one of the largest industries of its kind in the state of Ohio.
During his residence in Salem Mr. Harris has taken great interest in the public utilities of the place and has been honored by his fellow citizens with offices of trust. He has served a number of terms in the city council and on the board of education, and has been a member of the board of health and
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other organizations connected with the life of the city. In political affairs he supports the ticket of the Republican party, though he has not been seek- ing for office. Mr. Harris celebrated his marriage in Dauphin, Pennsylvania, being joined to Maria Greenawalt, who has borne him five children: Mary T., wife of J. F. Layng, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Dixon, a business man of Salem and one of the firm of Harris and Company, label printers; Frank G., a machinist living at Salem; Augustus E., who is a student at the high school; Edna E., also in school. Mr. Harris and his family are adherents of the Presbyterian faith, in which organization he is, and has been for many years, an elder. He and his family command the respect and kind offices of a large circle of friends.
JOHN C. BROWNE.
John C. Browne is a splendid type of that class of men who succeed in life by quiet, unobtrusive and honest effort persistently directed towards one honorable object. His life has been one of steady, methodical, deter- mined effort, and his work has done much towards making Youngstown one of the great business cities of Ohio.
Mr. Browne was born in Kemptville, Upper Ontario, Canada, June 28, 1857. His father, Daniel Browne, was a native of Belfast, Ireland. He was a remarkable man in many ways and an expert in the medical pro- fession. He prepared himself for his life's work by studying surgery, med- icine and pharmacy at the Glasgow University, Glasgow, Scotland. He afterwards served seven years as an assistant in the Belfast Hospital, during which time he married Miss Jane Cameron, a descendant of the great Cam- eron family, one of the famous highland clans whose name will survive as long as history is read. For twenty-five years he resided in Belfast and practiced his profession, besides being proprietor of a large apothecary shop. He came to Canada in 1837 and resided there until his death in 1859. Dr. Browne was highly respected in Upper Ontario on account of his ability as a physician and his character as a man. In religious belief he was a Protestant and was a highly esteemed member of the Masons. He had thir- teen children, seven sons and six daughters, of which the subject of this sketch was the youngest.
Mr. Browne left his Canadian home while a young man and went to Pittsburg, where he acquired a thorough business and commercial education in the best schools of that city. He came to this city in July, 1885, and established Browne's Business College, which has enjoyed a most successful career ever since its establishment. Mr. Browne started out with the idea
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that he would furnish the business men of Youngstown with young men and women who would be able to do all that was required of them, and that he has succeeded is conclusively proved by the fact that among Youngs- town's successful business men are numbered many of his graduates, while his school has a well established reputation for good work throughout north- eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. He has not only made a success of his own life, but has been the means of leading others to success along the hard route of honest, conscientious and arduous endeavor. He is highly respected by all who know him, on account of his stern integrity, an invalu- able heritage from his Scotch ancestors, and his kindly disposition and his fine sense of justice. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, but has never joined any fraternal order or society.
DAVID N. SIMPKINS.
David Neely Simpkins, who at various times has held many positions of honor and trust in his county, is one of the most prominent and efficient officials and financiers in this section, and is now serving as secretary of the water works of Youngstown. He traces his ancestry back to the common- wealth of New Jersey, where his paternal grandfather, Peter Simpkins, was born; he died in Pennsylvania, passing to his final rest at the age of sixty- one years, between the years of 1835 and 1840. His maternal grandfather, David Neely, valiantly served his country as a soldier in the war of 1812, from Pennsylvania. The father of our subject, Enoch Simpkins, claimed the Keystone state as the place of his nativity, his birth occurring in West- moreland county on the 17th of December, 1811, and in Mercer county, that state, he passed to his final reward July 25, 1858, after a useful and beneficial career. As a means of livelihood he followed the tilling of the soil and coal operations. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Mary Neely, and by her marriage to Mr. Simpkins she became the mother of fourteen children, five of whom died in infancy, and of the nine who grew to years of maturity David N. is the only survivor. The mother passed away in death on the 10th of May, 1851, loved and honored by all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance.
David N. Simpkins was born on a farm in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, in 1833, and there he remained until seventeen years of age, attending school as opportunity offered, but his advantages in that direction were very meager. However, being of a studious disposition, he applied himself diligently to mastering the branches of learning, and was soon able to impart to others the knowledge he had acquired. In 1852 he was made principal of the first
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graded school in Greenville, Pennsylvania, where he continued during a six months' term. In the spring of 1854 he abandoned the work of the school- room, and as a clerk entered the store of Sutton & Wick, at Greenville, Penn- sylvania, but at the end of six months he again took up pedagogic work, in the same schood in which he had formerly taught, thus continuing during a six months' term. Going thence to Wayne, Ohio, he entered as a clerk the store of Calvin C. Wick, where he remained from April, 1855, until March, 1856, and then on account of the proprietor's failure in business Mr. Simpkins returned to Greenville, Pennsylvania, and for the following year was engaged in the dry goods business in the capacity of a clerk. Going again to Wayne, Ohio, he was engaged in agricultural pursuits in Ashtabula county during the years of 1857-8-9, and in the fall of the latter year he and his cousin Henry S. embarked in mercantile pursuits in Wayne, their efforts thus being directed until the spring of 1861. The Civil war then burst upon the country, and this proved so disastrous to the business interests of the town that they were obliged to suspend operations, and in the fall of that year our subject came to Youngstown, but he did not take up his permanent location in this city until 1862. During his first two months here he was employed as a car- penter, and he then again turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, becoming a clerk in a general store. In the spring of 1864 he was called out on the one hundred day service, and on his return from hostilities he resumed his position in the store, his efforts being thus directed until the 30th of Novem- ber, 1865. From that date until the Ist of August, 1872, he was the efficient clerk for the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company at Youngstown, and he then directed his attention to the flour and feed business until April I, 1878, when he was elected to the position of justice of the peace. So well did he fulfill the requirements of that office that in 1881 he was re-elected, serving in all six years. His next public position was that of city clerk, and after a two years' term therein he became the secretary of the Youngs- town water works, his present position.
In Wayne county, Ohio, in 1856, Mr. Simpkins was united in marriage to Emily Ward, who died in 1861, leaving two children, one of whom died in infancy, and the surviving son is Frederick A., who was born in Wayne, Ohio, on the 30th of September, 1859, and is now a resident of Youngstown. He married Mary Cartwright, and they have four children, Bessie E., Susan M., Frederick W. and Emily G. For his second wife Mr. Simpkins chose Miss Jennie Gilmore, their wedding having been celebrated in Johnstown, Ohio, in 1862. To that union have been born three children, one of whom died in infancy, and those who are now living are: Margaret M., the wife of John
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F. Leonardson, and they have two sons, David F. and John C .; and Gertrude S., the wife of Edmund L. Powers, and they have two sons, William and Edward Clyde. The Republican party receives Mr. Simpkins' hearty support and co-operation and in his fraternal relations he is a Knight Templar Mason and a Member of Tod Post No. 29, G. A. R. His religious views connect him with the Presbyterian church, of which he is an acceptable and valued member. He is deeply interested in the affairs of the city which has so long been his home, and has labored for its improvement and progress. In private life he has gained that warm personal regard which arises from true nobility of character, deference for the opinions of others, kindliness and geniality.
JOHN A. MOORE.
Among the leading citizens of Mahoning county is John Albert Moore, who was born in an old log house on the farm on which he now resides, in May, 1843. The Moore family are numbered among the early pioneers of the locality, the grandfather of our subject, John Moore, having removed here from Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1803, and his death occurred from apoplexy when he was about forty-four years of age. He reared two sons and five daughters, and among the number was William Moore, the father of him whose name introduces this review, and who was born in Poland town- ship, Mahoning county, Ohio, in February, 1815. For his wife he chose Miss Mary Agnes Stewart, who was also born on the present Moore home- stead, her father, David Stewart, having located thereon in 1805. He was the last of six brothers to come from Adams county, Pennsylvania, and on his arrival here he purchased a settler's right to one hundred and sixty acres of land, on which had been erected a little log cabin with a clapboard roof and weight-poles. His father, Robert Stewart, gave to each of his six sons and two daughters one hundred and sixty acres of land. The Stewart fam- ily, originally from Scotland, are numbered among the old and wealthy ones of the Buckeye state, and trace their lineage back to early days in England. One family of this name had fifteen sons, all of whom were over six feet in height, and their mother, who bore the maiden name of Mary McClay, was of Scotch-Irish descent. She was married in Ireland to a Stewart, who owned a county in Scotland, but was driven from that country on account of his political beliefs. The marriage of William and Mary Agnes (Stewart) Moore was blessed with five children, namely: Sarah Jane, who resides near Portland, Oregon, and has three living children; Benjamin Franklin, who resides in the southeastern part of Coitsville township, and has one son and one daughter; John A., the subject of this review; David T., who resides on
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a part of the original Moore homestead, and has six living children, three sons and three daughters; William E., a resident of Lucas county, Iowa. The father of these children passed away in death in February, 1872, when he had reached the age of seventy-two years, while the mother survived until February, 1888, both dying at about the same age. They were of the Cal- vanistic faith, descended from old Covenanters, and led exemplary lives.
John Albert Moore, a son of this worthy couple, received but limited educational advantages during his youth, and early in life began the struggle for a livelihood. His first employment was in a brick yard, where he worked during the summer months, and in the winter seasons found employment in the woods. He remained on the old home farm until twenty-seven years of age, when he was united in marriage to Miss Martha J. Forsythe, a native of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Benjamin and Mar- garet (Carroll) Forsythe, also natives of that county. The grandfather of Mrs. Moore was one of the early pioneers of Allegheny county, where he owned valuable coal lands. Her mother was married when but eighteen years of age, and at the age of forty was left a widow with twelve children, six sons and six daughters, all of whom reached mature years with the exception of three, and four of the number are now living. Two of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Moore are deceased, one having died in infancy, and Benjamin D. passed away at the age of thirteen months. Their living children are: Ernest Carroll, who is now serving as assistant professor of philosophy in the University of California; he was married in Mississippi, his wife being both a physician and teacher. The second son, Milo Stewart, is a graduate of Mount Union College of Ohio, and for a time was enegaged in teaching in Huron; he is now a student in the Chicago University ; Louis Forsythe Moore attended the college at Ada, Ohio, and is now an electrician with the Ohio Steel Company, of Youngstown. Roy J. Moore is a graduate of Rayen School, and was for a time in the employ of the National Steel Company of New York city. The next in order of birth, Harrison Edward, is also a graduate of the Rayen School, while his brother, William Leonard, a lad of fifteen years, is now attending the graded school of this district. The daughter of the family, Jane Adams, was adopted from the Hull House in Chicago, Illi- nois, she having come to them when two and a half years old, and has now reached the age of eight years.
Mr. Moore is now the owner of forty acres of land, where he is exten- sively engaged in horticultural pursuits, growing both the small and larger fruits, and in this line of endeavor he has met with a high degree of success. His is one of the most fertile and productive farms in this section of the
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state, and has been greatly improved. He is a Republican in his political views, and has served as a member of the board of education and as the township trustee. His religious views are in harmony with the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal church, while his wife is allied with the Presbyterian church. Their pleasant home is noted for its gracious hospitality, and they well deserve the respect and high regard in which they are held by all who know them.
ADOLPHUS H. CLARK.
This well known citizen of East Liverpool belongs to one of those honored old pioneer families whose history is so interesting to trace. It leads us back to the period of history-making and nation-building, to and through the times when the first formative steps were being taken and the groundwork laid for the future American republic which is now march- ing on so grandly to its destiny. By following these pioneers of civilization we are brought in touch with conditions long since passed away and never to return, but which, while they prevailed, were peculiarly and altogether North American in type. We meet the red men at every turn, that most remarkable as well as most heroic of all the aboriginal races. Pioneer life was interwoven with these children of the forest; with the camp in the woods, the midnight foray, the scalping knife, the tomahawk and the blood- curdling warwhoop. Indeed the pioneer and the Indian are inseparable; their lots were cast together, and the same page tells the story of each. The Indian warrior's death-song mingles with the sound of the woodman's ax, and the Indian maiden's wail of anguish is drowned by the white man's strident voice as he advances resolutely to the conquest of the forest. The tearful tale of Tecumseh, told to the accompaniment of the cataract's ma- jestic music, is but a companion to the narrative of the achievements of Daniel Boone, which stand out in silhouette on the very frontispiece of the pioneer period. All the figures are not so heroic, but each one performed some part which, however humble, has an interest peculiarly its own. The actors, great and small, are all gone now, but it is pleasing as well as in- structive to turn over these old records for incidents of the long ago, and stories of the heroic actors therein
"Round about whose home the glory that blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story of the old time entombed."
The Clarks were at the front in those stirring times and had representa- tives at various places, wielding the ax as well as the rifle, fighting Indians on the Monongahela and Miami, treading the lone paths of the "dark and bloody ground," felling the forests primeval and wandering wearily through
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the trackless wilds that lay between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi. Samuel Clark, great-grandfather of the Liverpool lawyer, was a native of Hagerstown, Maryland, and lived at a time when that part of the country was near the frontier. Two of his brothers, George and John, were killed by the Indians in one of those bloody border fights so common when the white man was pushing across the divides between civilization and savagery. Samuel married a widow named Nellie Violette Lyttleton, who by her first marriage had three children, John and two daughters, the latter becoming wives of George Dawson and a Mr. Scott. The second marriage resulted in the birth of four sons, Alexander, Samuel, George and Hugh, of whom it is necessary to follow the fortunes of only the last mentioned.
Hugh Clark was born in western Pennsylvania in 1778, when the Revo- lutionary war was at its height, and as soon as he reached his majority joined the tide then surging over the mountains into the virgin lands of Ohio. He located in what is now Jefferson county, and there in 181I was married to a Miss Fishel, after which he removed to Clark county and settled on the banks of Mad river. His wife died at this place about 1815, leaving two children, Mary and Eleanor, and after this event he located on Yellow creek, a few miles west of what is now Salineville, in Columbiana county. Hugh Clark was not only a pioneer in the ordinary sense of the word but was the "avant courier," or advance agent in two important branches of the agencies then engaged in carrying the torch of civilization into the wilderness. His regular occupation was farming, but between times, as the borderers would say, he taught school and music. He was probably the first, certainly one of the first, who urged the tardy loiterers of the log cabin days along the flowery paths of knowledge and showed the girls of the period the mysteries of the tuning-fork and the old "buckwheat notes." In 1816 this old pioneer contracted a second matrimonial alliance with Letitia Kerr, who was born in 1793 and was a daughter of James and Hannah (Beard) Kerr. Her father moved to Yellow creek in 1810, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1812. His seven children were Letitia Clark, William, Mary Donnard, Amelia Woodburn, Hannah Mar- shall, James and Julia Roach. The seven children of Hugh and Letitia (Kerr) Clark were Violet, James, Amelia, Julia A., George D., Letitia J. and John L. The mother died in Columbiana county in 1855, and Hugh Clark, in December, 1857. The latter had three brothers, who spent their lives in Jefferson and Columbiana counties, and a few brief particulars con- cerning them are appended. Alexander married Ruth Mathews and had seven children-Sallie Wycoff, Samuel, Prudence Hart, Alanson, John. Nel-
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lie Russell and Rachel. Samuel Clark married Jennie Carothers and had ten children: Violet Adams, Rebecca Russell, Hugh, Nellie Kerr, James, Sarah Lowery, Hannah, Jane Ewing, Margaret Barcus and Lydia Criss. George Clark, the third brother, married Hannah Vaughn and had eleven children: Nellie Fishel, Alexander, Lydia Brothers, Stephen, Elizabeth, George, Richard, Diana Hanmers, Frances Gilson, Hannah and Perry J.
Of the children of Hugh Clark those dead are Mary Carman, Violet Saltsman, James and Letitia Campbell. Those living are Ellen Van Fossan, Amelia Paisley, Julia S. McCloskey, George D. and J. Lyttleton Clark. It now remains to notice more particularly three of the sons of Hugh Clark, all of whom were veterans of the Civil war and men of attainments. George D. and John L. Clark were for many years engaged in teaching school and in time came to be regarded as leaders in this line. George D. enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with his command in the Army of the Potomac. John L. joined the One Hundred and Fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was with it in the west under Sherman. He learned the painter's trade and for some years was editor of the Buckeye State.
James Clark, second son by his father's marriage with Letitia Kerr, was born in 1818, on Yellow creek bottom, near the residence of Samuel Kerr, a few miles below Salineville. As he grew up he combined the occu- pations of school teaching and brick-making, each being pursued in its suit- able season, and this continued several years. As side lines, he did some coopering and farmed on a small scale. He is represented by those who knew him as a man of more than ordinary intelligence for the period in which he lived, and was especially noted for his conversational ability, readi- ness of repartee and skill in debate. He enlisted in Company G, One Hun- dred and Forty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with his command during the famous Peninsular campaign in eastern Virginia. Being a friend of liberty and extremely averse to the system of human slavery, he was first an abolitionist, and when the Republican party was started became a charter member, and until the end of his days was a strenu- ous and zealous advocate of the progressive principles of that great organi- zation. In the later years of his life he was engaged in mining at Saline- ville, and was so employed when summoned to his last rest in April, 1875. James Clark was married in 1845 to Mary C. McMillan, of Carroll county, Ohio, by whom he had eight children, seven of whom grew to maturity : Adolphus H. Clark; Harriet A., who was the wife of James Willis Carter and died in 1868, leaving one son, John Sherman Carter; Elizabeth H., the
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